City Life magazine is back – as a website

Manchester's iconic events and listings magazine City Life has been relaunched, nearly three years after the paid-for weekly print edition folded, as a standalone website with the promise of being the destination for the city's busy social and entertainments scene.

The new website rolled out last week, after hibernating as the Friday entertainments pullout buried in the Manchester Evening News, just in time for next week's Manchester Food and Drink Festival - of which CityLife.co.uk is the main sponsor.

But is it any kop?(What are your thoughts on MEN bringing back City Life - comment on the relaunch below)

First impression is that despite the numerous sections on the front page that neatly scroll pictures, reviews and video options independently of one another and make it an easy site to navigate, it looks a little sparse.

The narrow page templates create a lot of dead space with large white area on the page that are an instant reminder of all other MEN Media sites

(Note: MEN Media is owned by Guardian Media Group, as is MediaGuardian.co.uk)

In its current form CityLife.co.uk not so dissimilar from newspaper entertainments sites being rolled out of other regional newspapers.

The Bristol Evening News has its own entertainments site that, for the time being at least, seems similar.

Bristol's Crackerjack allows locals to sign up, upload profiles and reviews of venues, bars, eateries and events to the local listings guide, then vote on those recommendations made by others so that the site becomes both a source of handy factual info – location, phone numbers, images – and reader and editorial opinion.

CityLife.co.uk offers similar listings and reviews across music, bars, restaurants, cinema, clubs and all the other usual leisure suspects, all essentials for a local listing and reviews site, the bones of the operation.

It also allows users to easily tag content from the site on news aggregation services and social networks.

Not only will the site rely on the recommendations of the readers but it will also pull in entertainments content created across all MEN Media's other titles in the area. The thing, however, that gives it a bit of edge is the wealth of video the site can call on from the city's Channel M TV station (similarly owned by MEN Media).

In particular, the music pages are given greater significance by carrying interviews with local and touring bands, studio session, and magazine shows that could make a credible alternative to searching out bands solely on YouTube, In fact, why isn't this content on YouTube?

Site editor Neil Sowerby told Howdo that the new CityLife wanted to "provide a completely comprehensive social map for the city of Manchester."

Lets not get ahead of ourselves, its not quite there yet. However, Sowerby claimed that the site would, in the future, begin tailoring recommendations for gigs and events to its users. Amazon for local entertainments, he says. Also in the pipeline is the introduction of a number of Manchester-focused blogs.

Verdict? So far so...as expected. So roll on those new features. Then we might get a glimpse of how the rest of our local media may pan out as the become more dependent on the web.

Your thoughts on the online relaunch?

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